Secret Government

[Originally posted on goofyblog 2.1.07]

One of the good things about the aftermath of the Vietnam War fiasco, the Watergate break-in and Nixon’s resignation, was an opening up of government. The secretiveness of the Nixon Administration was too much. Laws were passed to open up all the processes of government and laws were passed to restrict the spaying activities of government agencies.

But government behind closed doors is the main philosophy of the Bush Administration. Here’s a short list (from tpm muckracker):

Economy/Employment

In March, the administration announced it would no longer produce the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, which identifies which programs best assist low-income families, while also tracking health insurance coverage and child support.

After the Bureau of Labor Statistics uncovered discouraging data about factory closings in the U.S., the administration announced it would stop publishing information about factory closings.

When an annual report called “Budget Information for States” showed the federal government shortchanging states in the midst of fiscal crises, Bush’s Office of Management and Budget announced it was discontinuing the report, which some said was the only source for comprehensive data on state funding from the federal government.

In December 2002, the administration curtailed funding to the Mass-Layoffs Statistics program, which released monthly data on the number and size of layoffs by U.S. companies. His father attempted to kill the same program in 1992, but Clinton revived it when he assumed the presidency.

After Bush assumed power in 2001, the Department of Labor removed from its Web site “Don’t Work in the Dark — Know Your Rights,” a publication informing women of their workplace rights. (via the National Council for Research on Women)

The Department of Labor also removed from its Web site roughly two dozen fact sheets on women’s workplace issues such as women in management, earning differences between men and women, child care concerns, and minority women in the workplace. (via the National Council for Research on Women)

In February 2004, the appointed head of the Office of Special Counsel — created to protect government employees’ rights — ordered removed from a government Web site information on the rights of gay men, lesbians and bisexuals in the public workplace. (via the National Council for Research on Women)

Terrorism

In 2005, after a government report showed an increase in terrorism around the world, the administration announced it would stop publishing its annual report on international terrorism.

No Child Left Behind

When Bush’s Department of Education found that charter schools were underperforming, the administration said it would sharply cut back on the information it collects about charter schools

Climate Change/Environment

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has to date failed to produce a congressionally-mandated report on climate change that was due in 2004. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has called the failure an “obfuscation.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced plans to close several libraries which were used by researchers and scientists. The agency called its decision a cost-cutting measure, but a 2004 report showed that the facilities actually brought the EPA a $7.5 million surplus annually. (Thanks to Mark B. below.)

A rule change at the U.S. Geological Survey restricts agency scientists from publishing or discussing research without that information first being screened by higher-ups at the agency. Special screening will be given to “findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed.” The scientists at the USGS cover such controversial topics as global warming. Before, studies were released after an anonymous peer review of the research. (Thanks to Alison below.)

A new policy at the The U.S. Forest Service means the agency no longer will generate environmental impact statements for “its long-term plans for America’s national forests and grasslands.” It also “no longer will allow the public to appeal on long-term plans for those forests, but instead will invite participation in planning from the outset.” (Thanks to libra below.)

Also in 2002, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission removed from its Web site a document showing that officials found large gaps in a portion of an aging Montana dam. A FERC official said the deletion was for “national security.”

In 2002, Bush officials intervened to derail the publication of an EPA report on mercury and children’s health, which contradicted the administration’s position on lowering regulations on certain power plants. The report was eventually leaked by a “frustrated EPA official.”

In 2003, the EPA bowed to White House pressure and deleted the global warming section in its annual “Report on the Environment.” The move drew condemnations from Democrats and Republicans alike.

Also in 2003, the EPA withheld for months key findings from an air pollution report that undercut the White House’s “Clear Skies” initiative. Leaked copies were reported in the Washington Post.

Records

On November 1st, 2001, President Bush issued an executive order limiting the public’s access to presidential records. The order undermined the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which required the release of those records after 12 years. Bush’s order prevented the release of “68,000 pages of confidential communications between President Ronald Reagan and his advisers,” some of whom had positions in the Bush Administration. More here. (Thanks to Roger A. and nitpicker below.) Update: TPMm Reader JP writes in to point out that Bush did the same thing with his papers from the Texas governorship.

In 2004, the Internal Revenue Service stopped providing data demonstrating the level of its job performance. In 2006, a judge forced the IRS to provide the information.

In 2004, the FBI attempted to retroactively classify public information regarding the case of bureau whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, including a series of letters between the Justice Department and several senators.

Also in 2004, the Federal Communications Commission blocked access to a once-public database of network outages affecting telecommunications service providers. The FCC removed public copies and exempted the information from Freedom of Information Act requests, saying it would “jeopardize national security efforts.” Experts ridiculed that notion.

In early 2001, the Treasury Department stopped producing reports showing how the benefits of tax cuts were distributed by income class. (via the Tax Policy Center, from Paul Krugman)

Sex Education/Information

In March 2006, the Department of Health and Human Services took down a six-year-old Web site devoted to substance abuse and treatment information for gays and lesbians, after members of the conservative Family Research Council complained.

In 2002, HHS removed information from its Web site pertaining to risky sexual behavior among adolescents, condom use and HIV.

War

In October 2003, the Bush administration banned photographs depicting servicemembers’ coffins returning from overseas.

Corruption

For more than a year, the Interior Department refused to release a 2005 study showing a government subsidy for oil companies was not effective.

In 2006, the Federal Communications Commission ordered destroyed all copies of an unreleased 2004 draft report concluding that media consolidation hurt local TV news coverage, which runs counter to the administration’s pro-consolidation stance. (Thanks to Jim Tobias below.)

In 2006, as a number of groups sought records of visits by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates to the White House, the administration quietly made an agreement with the Secret Service, making sure that White House visitor records would no longer be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Drug War

The White House Office of National Drug Policy paid for a 5-year, $43 million study which concluded their anti-drug ad campaigns did not work — but it refused to release those findings to Congress. (Thanks to skeptic below.)

How times have changed. This is just a partial list and doesn’t even begin to get into the insane “classification” of almost everything by a government run amuck, concerned more with covering up its mistakes and errors than the need for the people it represents to know.

Example: for 25 years, Jon Weiner fought the FBI to have some of their files on John Lennon de-classified. The FBI said for 25 years that the information was too sensitive to be de-classified. Last month, they finally released the 10 super-duper classified pages. What’s in them? Some bullshit about Lennon’s association with London members of the New Left, a fact commonly known and reported publicly at the time of his association. See for yourself here.